Dr. Samuel Henry and his wife, Mary Woodward Henry, seek "their full share proportion and moiety of and in the Estate of the said James Woodward." The Henrys state that the said Woodward, "late a master of Vessel being possessed of a considerable personal estate consisting chiefly of negro Slaves," died intestate, leaving the said Mary as his sole heir. They further recount that William Shirtliff, as administrator of Woodward's estate, "reduced the whole of the said Estate into his possession." They charge that Shirtliff "caused the negro Slaves ... in number eleven, to be sold at public sale;" however, the said Shirtliff "kept and retained in his hands as well the aforesaid sum of ready money found in the Bank, as the whole net proceeds of the sales of the said negro Slaves to a large amount." Noting that Shirtliff died in 1812, the petitioners declare that they "have often in a friendly manner applied themselves to the said William Shirtliff in his lifetime and to the said James Houston and Charles Kiddell his Executors since his death for an account of the said William Shirtliff's administration of the said Estate and the payment of your Oratrix's moiety thereof," but the said defendants "have refused to comply with their reasonable demands." The Henrys therefore pray that the defendants be summoned to answer their charges and that they be compelled to pay to them their share of said estate, according to the law.
Or you may view all people.
Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
